Deep Impact Catches First Glimpse of Target Comet

Posted by timothy on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:22PM from the now-put-ben-affleck-into-the-torpedo-tube dept.

smooth wombat writes "The BBC has a story, with pics and diagrams, showing the first image of comet Temple Tuttle 1 taken by the Deep Impact spacecraft. (Secondary link from Wired News) The Deep Impact spacecraft is to rendezvous with the comet on July 4th and impact the comet in an attempt to learn more about how comets are formed and possibly more insight into how the solar system was formed. A camera on the impactor will allow scientists to examine the surface of Tempel 1 in greater detail than ever before. Depending on how much dust hits the camera's lens, scientists should be able to see photos up until a second before impact. If that's the case, the photos will reveal objects as small as 8 inches in width. The photos will immediately be relayed to the main Deep Impact spacecraft and then down to Earth."

2 of 67 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Thanks a lot Slashdot... by earthbound+kid · 2005-04-30 23:35 · Score: 0, Offtopic

...now I can't get the opening theme to Deep Space 9 out of my head.
Re:A drawing of the comet by noidentity · 2005-05-01 00:04 · Score: 1, Offtopic

Last new moon, I made this visual visual drawing of the comet using this telescope.

Visual visual drawings are the best!